Reliability of self-sampling for accurate assessment of respiratory virus viral and immunologic kinetics

Alpana Waghmare; Elizabeth M Krantz; Subhasish Baral; Emma Vasquez; Tillie Loeffelholz; E. Lisa Chung; Urvashi Pandey; Jane Kuypers; Elizabeth R Duke; Keith R Jerome; Alexander L Greninger; Daniel B Reeves; Florian Hladik; E Fabian Cardozo-Ojeda; Michael Boeckh; Joshua T Schiffer

Our study demonstrates several novel features of respiratory virus kinetics. RSV infection 287 achieves a brief, extremely high, viral load, followed by a steady state and a final rapid phase of 288 elimination. HRV also has a remarkably stable viral load in most participants before being 289 rapidly eliminated. During a majority of our observed episodes, viral shedding is strongly 290 correlated with symptoms. As viral load decreases, symptoms tend to dissipate. 291 292 . CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. Table 1 ). Following completion of 368 the 14-day sample collection, participants were asked to complete a brief survey to assess the 369 tolerability and acceptability of the testing methods. Sample processing: Each conical vial containing a swab was vortexed and 500ul of buffer was 382 removed and stored at -80°C for PCR analysis. The swab was then removed from the conical 383 . CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.